Equivalent Exchange
by Kirara Kaname
Summary: My retelling of how Ed and Al lost thier bodies. Please read it xD Four cusswords.


**Hi! I did this in Geography when i got bored. It's my retelling of how Ed and Al lost thier bodies. Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me (sadly) Same with the charcters (again sadly) They all belong to the lucky Hiromu review even thought this sucks xD The ending's just the song Brothers.**

Equivalent exchange. Alchemy's first law. To obtain something of equal value must be lost. With a correct formula this law can be overpowered. Or so we thought.

Then there's human transmutation. Alchemy's one and only taboo. To bring back someone from the dead. Written off as impossible and shoved into the darkest recess of any sane alchemist. We thought we could do it. We could supply the correct makeup of a human body easily. And what was a soul besides a spark that starts life. We were wrong.

Al and I desperately wanted to see our mom again. She was always so sweet and kind. We had no one else besides each other. The world felt empty and cold without her. So we studied. We slaved over books for hours, clinging to a minuscule glimpse of hope. And eventually we thought we were ready.

So we set up everything. We drew a transmutation circle on the floor with white chalk as pure as our intentions.

"Are you sure about this" Al questioned.

"You want mom back don't you?"

"Of course."

Then hold out your hand. I pricked our fingers with a knife. And together we spilled our blood onto the ashes of our mother Trisha.

"DNA. We're almost there Al. So close" I grinned at the thought of our mother again. And he smiled back. We both were ignorant to what our arrogance had in store for us.

We both slammed our hands down on the circle.

"Something's wrong." Al whispered as the room turned darker than before. Hinting near evil.

And that's when it happened.

Hand's shot up from the transmutation circle. The hands wrapped themselves around Al's wrist. Deconstructing them. Tearing away the flesh and leaving nothing behind, nothing but a memory of what was there.

"NIISAN!" Al screamed in horror.

"ARG!" _No way. A rebound._ I thought as the hands took apart my ankle.

"NIISAN! NIISAN!" Al screamed reaching out as the hands continued to constrict him.

The hands then began to tear apart Al's arm. The very arm reaching out for me. Hoping I could help when I couldn't do a thing. "NIISAN!" Al continued to scream as tears began to well up in his eyes.

"No Al!" I screamed as I realized the side of his face was also becoming victim to the merciless hands. I tried reaching out and grabbing hold of the last trace of his hand. It was all happening so fast. My brother being eaten up right before my eyes. And it was my fault. The last of him disappeared and so did my surroundings.

It was all gone. Everything. I was surrounded by nothing. By white nothingness.

"Al?" I asked to nobody in particular. "Huh? What was I doing?"

"Yo." I flinched out of my current state at the unknown voice. Searching for the owner.

He sat in front of me. A white detail lacking figure. You could only tell he was there by the black aura surrounding him.

"Who are you?"

"Ooh just the right question!" he exclaimed, raising his hands in a comical fashion. And that's when I realized something. His voice. It wasn't just one voice. It was several different voices. Strung together rather haphazardly, giving it a rather creepy tone.

"I am the being that you call the "world." Or also, "the universe." Or "God," or "the Truth." Or "Whole." Or "One." And, I am "you." The being spoke, pointing a finger in my direction.

A gate opened noisily behind me, one I haven't noticed until now. "Welcome poor fool, ignorant of your own limits." I studied it as he said this. It had an eye in the center. A dark eye that seemed to stare straight into my heart. I sensed it could see into my life, my very being. Seeing into my motivations and reasons to live.

The hands shot out and I stumbled backwards blindly searching for an escape from them. "Argh!" I turned and tried to run, but they already had possession of me. Screaming. I started screaming. I didn't want to go in there. Into the gate.

"Aw shut up. It's what you wanted, isn't it?" He spoke as I stretched my hand out for his assistance. Even though I doubted he'd help me.

"I shall show you…the truth." And the gate slammed shut on me.

I was falling. Everything that was the world was forcing itself inside my brain. Causing a horrible headache. Like someone was shoving a knife into the side of my face. It felt like a tremendous quantity of information was being pounded directly into my head. I saw my mother and her sweet smile. I saw Al and I. I saw Sensei. I saw our house. I saw Winry. "STOP IT! MY HEADS GONNA BREAK!" Then my body started disintegrating. "Stop it! Stop it!" I desperately called out as my skin began peeling and floating off.

My head was about to break, but, suddenly, I understood. This was truth. Another white figure appeared in front of me. This time in the form of a woman. "Mother!" Unlike the figure before, she looked less intimidating, but she was taunting me. I reached out for her, and she responded, but I couldn't grasp her hand. For she was gone. I was back in front of the figure before. "The Truth"

"So how was it?"

"Yes…My human transmutation theory wasn't wrong." I said walking back to the gate. "But it wasn't enough!" I exclaimed triumphantly. Grasping at the gate. "Just a little further, the thing I was looking for…the Truth of human transmutation was there!" He stood up. "Please show me one more time!" I pleaded. Desperation creeping its way into my voice.

"I can't do that. With this toll fare, this as much as I can show you."

"Toll fare?" I said sensing something horrible.

"Yes. Toll fare" He said stepping forward as color crawled up his foot. Becoming real. As mine disappeared from underneath me.

He stood beside me. Looking accomplished as I gasped in disbelief and horror.

"Equivalent exchange. Right alchemist?" He asked a smile taking hold of his features.

Then I was back. Out of that horrible place. Sensing pain in my leg I clutched what was left. Trying to stop the bleeding. It was gone. Half of my leg. "ARGH!"

"Damn it! How could this happen?" I exclaimed crawling over to the circle spitting out blue sparks. "That's not what was supposed…Damn it! My leg got taken away!" I screamed as blood continued to poor out of the open wound. Draining itself from my body. "Someone… help me… Mom…Mom." I said while holding back tears. I glanced over at the middle of the circle, where mother's remains were, and gasped in horror.

A collection of intestines and bones. Mashed together. An arm. A disfigured arm. Reaching out. And upside down head possessing red, demonic looking eyes. A jaw open wide. Spitting out smoke. It wasn't human. It was a monster. A mistake. Blood splattered from its mouth onto the floor. And it lay still as more blood poured out from its corpse.

"No. That's not possible…It's not what we wanted!" tears started pouring out as I studied my brother's abandoned clothes. Just there. Without him. My little brother was gone and it was my fault. "Al! Alphonse! Alphonse! Alphonse! It's my fault…Alphonse!"

I crawled forward. Making my way towards a suit of armor in the corner of the room. "Damn it…Damn it! Give him back…He's my brother!" I screamed. Drawing another circle into the armor with my own blood. A blood seal. "Take anything! My leg! My arm! My heart! Anything I'll give them to you! So give him back…He's my one and only little brother!" I screamed as tears ran down my face and joined the puddle of blood beneath me. And clapping my hands together I sacrificed myself.

-Al-

A sea of blood. I woke up to a sea of blood. My big brother clutching a stump, all that was left of his arm.

I was scared to death of what would happen to him.

"Heh heh. Sorry Al. All I could get for one arm was your soul."

And that's when I noticed it. I was a suit of armor. I was no longer in a ten year old body. I was a soul attached to a suit of armor. I could no longer feel warmth. I could no longer cry. I could no longer eat. I could no longer breathe. I could no longer die. I was no longer living, but I was alive. Because of Edward I was still here. Because of equivalent exchange. He gave up his arm to save me.

"Why Niisan? Your theory was flawless!"

"Yeah. There weren't any mistakes in the theory. We were the ones who made the mistake."

-Roy and Riza-

"Do you think he'll be coming sir?" First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye questioned.

"They'll come." Her superior Roy Mustang assured.

"That boy…I've never seen anyone look so defeated." She said, pity shining clearly though her voice.

"That's what you saw? No. There was fire and determination in those eyes"

_He'll take my advice. And he'll restore their bodies back. I'm sure they will. _Roy thought to himself as he smiled.

**Brothers**

-Ed-

How can I repay you brother mine? How can I expect you to forgive? Clinging to the past I shed our blood, and shattered your chance to live. Though I knew the laws, I paid no heed. How can I return your wasted breath? What I did not know has cost you dear, for there is no cure for death. Beautiful Mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete. Back through the years we reached for you. Alas t'was not meant to be. And how can I make amends for all that I took from you? I led you with hopeless dreams. My brother, I was a fool

-Al-

Don't cry for the past now, brother of mine. Neither you nor I are free from blame. Nothing can erase the things we did, for the path we took was the same. Beautiful Mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete. Back through the years we reached for you. Alas t'was not meant to be. My dreams made me blind and mute. I long to return to that time. I followed without a word. My brother, the fault is mine

So, where do we go from here? And how to forget and forgive? What's gone is forever lost. Now, all we can do is live


End file.
